Talk to Edinburgh University - Celtic and Scottish Studies

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From 1835

Photogenic Drawing, Calotypes and Daguerreotypes

Photogenic Drawing

Talbot described his first experiments as photogenic drawings.

They used no camera at all. He just placed leaves, ferns and other objects on his photographic paper and exposed it to light. The result was a negative image. The example below is dated Feb 8, 1836.

Photogenic Drawing (Talbot)

© Reproduced from the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television collection,
by courtesy of the Science and Society Picture Library. Click here for link to web site.
Cameras

Later, Talbot used very simple cameras. These were small wooden boxes with lenses. Note the small sizes. The measure on the right is 3 ins.

© Reproduced from the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television collection,
by courtesy of the Science and Society Picture Library. Click here for link to web site.
Exposures of an hour or more would normally be needed with these cameras. It was not practical to take portraits!
The Calotype was an 1840 development of Talbot's original discovery.
A Calotype might sometimes require an exposure of as little as ten seconds but often it would need a minute, or perhaps ten minutes, depending on the light.

Hill & Adamson

Here is a calotype of taken by Hill & Adamson
Their partnership began in 1843, but lasted for only four years. Adamson died in early 1848:

'Edinburgh Ale'

James Ballantyne, Dr George Bell & David Octavius Hill

Daguerreotype

See also 'Further Notes'

This was the main process used for portraits in the 1840s, but the photos were expensive. Here, the image can be clearly seen, but on tilting the photo a few degrees, the image almost vanishes leaving what appears to be almost clear glass.
The Daguerreotype process needed skill and was dangerous. It required a highly polished silver plate to be exposed to:
iodine fumes before the photograph was taken
fumes from heated mercury after the photo had been taken.
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From 1851

Collodion Negatives
The collodion process required photographers to:
      - coat their glass plates in the dark THEN
      - within about ten minutes, while the surface of the plate was still wet
      - take the photo and develop the plate.
So for outdoor photography dark tent or other form of portable darkroom was needed.
Here is a view of The Scott Monument, taken by George Washington Wilson of Aberdeen. The vehicle beside the lamp post is his horse-drawn darkroom parked outside the temperance hotel where he was staying in Princes Street.
Princes Street

© Queen Mother Library - University of Aberdeen

Cartes de Visite

The collodion process was much cheaper than the Daguerreotype, so more photographers became established, and were able to sell to a wider public. The normal size of portrait right up to about 1900s were:
cartes de visite (mounted on card 4.125ins x 2.5 ins) from the mid-1850s
cabinet prints (mounted on card 6.5ins x 4.25 ins) from the mid-1860s.
Victorian photograph albums were produced to hold these two sizes of print.
Carte de Visite

© ©
Exposures of several seconds were needed for early cartes de visite, so:
sitters were often supported by stands, or took positions they could easily hold for several seconds.
sitters would be unlikely to be smiling or showing expressions such as surprise.

Ambrotype

Collodion plates could also be used, mounting the negatives against a dark background to produce Ambrotypes. These would usually be mounted in small cases:

Ambrotype

Thomas Buist with wife and daughter - 1857

© Reproduced with acknowledgement to Frances Culham, Bedfordshire, England

Ambrotype in a Union Case

The case is made from shellac and sawdust, then moulded

Tintype Photos

Tintype photos were similar to ambrotypes, but were on metal, often very inexpensive and produced by itinerant photographers. Some can be found unframed, others framed as for Ambrotypes.
- Albumen Prints
  
  See also 'Further Notes'
- From the 1850s onwards until near the end of the century, Albumen prints were produced. These were a yellowish colour and tended to fade.
- Here is one of the Forth Bridge under construction. in the 1880s.
© Ray Norman

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1880 to 1900

Amateur Photographers

One of the most significant developments of the late 19th century was the move by photographers from the wet collodion to the dry collodion process.
Hand-held cameras became popular, and were marketed to amateurs, particularly by Kodak. In 1885, Kodak invented the roll film. In 1888, Kodak coined the slogan "You Press The Button and We Do The Rest."
© Reproduced by courtesy of Edinburgh Photographic Society
The dry collodion plates were pre-coated, and did not need to be processed immediately. They were also 'faster' so could be used by amateurs using cameras without a tripod.

Stereo Views

Stereo views first appeared in the 1850s, but there was a revival of interest in the 1890s and early 1900s with some of the larger companies producing many sets of views around the world.

Looking down the Mound towards Princes Street

The Forth Bridge

Other Printing Methods

Other methods of printing began to be used instead of albumen
Silver Bromide paper came into use and remained popular in a variety of finishes throughout the 20th century
Carbon and Platinum and several other processes were used in order to produce prints that would not fade. Platinotype materials became too costly, so very few were produced after 1914.
Platinotype Print

D & W Prophet - Dundee + St Andrew Square, Edinburgh

© please contact peter.stubbs@edinphoto.org.uk

Photogravure Prints

See also 'Further Notes'
Thomas Annan took many photos of the slums of Glasgow before they were demolished. Archibald Burns carried out similar project for Edinburgh. Here are some of Annan's prints, later reproduced as photogravures:
Photogravure - 1

Thomas Annan

© Reproduced with acknowledgement to Fine Art Dealer Paul Cava

Photogravure - 2

Thomas Annan

© Reproduced with acknowledgement to Fine Art Dealer Paul Cava

Photogravure - 3

Thomas Annan

© Reproduced with acknowledgement to Fine Art Dealer Paul Cava

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1900 to 1999

The bromoil printing process was introduced in 1907. It remained popular with pictorialists until the mid-20th century and is still practiced by a few. A bromoil print involves replacing the emulsion on a print with an oil-based pigment, using a hard, flat brush. The result is a soft artistic image.
Bromoil

Dunure Castle, Ayrshire - J M Whitehead

© Reproduced with acknowledgement to Ed Romney

Documentary Photography
Here are a couple of documentary photos taken in the St Leonard's district of Edinburgh. The location of the second of these photos (below) has still to be identified.

Early-November 1927

East Crosscauseway

1920s

Where is it?

And here are a more 'where is it?' photos

Family Photographs